Consultant for Developing a Training Manual on Standard Terms of Employment (Open to Sri Lankan Nationals Only)

Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

With the global mandate for facilitating economic empowerment of women, UN Women Sri Lanka has been working on empowering and promoting the rights of women migrant workers especially low skilled migrant workers who make up 28% of all migrant workers.

Women from South Asia primarily go abroad as low skilled workers and among them work as domestic workers is the most common employment option for them. The most common problem with domestic work is the low pay, long working hours and insufficient protection of their rights.

Additionally, the positions of domestic workers are influenced by highly personalized relationship with employers in a particular household adding further risk of abuse and exploitation. Sometimes migrant workers move to various destinations in both regular and irregular channels, without valid travel and employment documents, requisite information on the working and living conditions, knowledge about the destination country and without having any idea regarding their protection and rights. Moreover, lack of communication due to language barrier exposes them to risks of exploitation and abuses in the destination country.  For UN WOMEN, the extreme marginalization of women migrant workers, many of whom are employed in low-wage jobs in the informal economy, is of particular concern. Majority of them work as domestic help, exposing them to many risks and limiting the economic and social value of migration for them.

Sri Lanka is one of the main source countries for migrant domestic workers in the Middle East. The World Bank has estimated that in 2014 Sri Lanka received some US$7,036 million in official remittances, reflecting an exponential growth since the early 2000s. This is equivalent to 9.6 percent of the country’s GDP, eighty-six percent of its foreign reserves, and fifty percent of its imports, 35 underpinning the claim that, financially, migrant domestic workers have been one of Sri Lanka’s most successful exports. According to the data of Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment the percentage of women migration has dropped down to 28% due to the introduction of Family Background Report (FBR) where the mothers with children less than five years of age are restricted from travelling. The Ministerial circular also mentions that the Mothers who have children above five years of age should not be recommended for migration. The policy is mainly aimed at the protection of the children, yet the clauses where the potential migrant women workers need to obtain approvals from relevant government officers have posed severe threats on women’s mobility and decision making process to participate in economic activities.

Given domestic work is vital to make everyday functions run smoother and faster, still there is a huge gap in recognizing domestic work as “Work”. In most cases, domestic workers tend to migrate without a contract or without any knowledge of their basic entitlements as a domestic worker. Since 2006, UN Women’s Regional Programme on Empowering Women Migrant Workers in Asia has advocated for the protection and promotion of the rights of women migrant workers in the region, and has successfully produced key replicable results in protecting and empowering women migrant workers. In light of these discriminatory practices, UN Women has developed Standard Terms of Employment (STOEs) for Domestic Workers to be adhered both by the Countries of Origin (COOs) and Countries of Destination (CODs).

This particular assignment is a part of the regional project on “Empowering Women domestic workers through implementation of Standard Terms of Employment”. The project is coordinated by UN Women Regional Office for Asia Pacific (ROAP) and is being implemented in 2 countries including Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

UN Women Sri Lanka seeks to hire a national consultant to develop a training module based on the template of Standard Terms of Employment (STOEs) for prospective and returnee women migrant workers.

Objectives of the Assignment:

The main objective of the assignment is to develop a training curriculum on STOEs for Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) in a format that is understandable to prospective and returnee women migrant workers.  This module needs to be tested with groups of migrant workers and verified by the qualified Trainers of SLBFE.   This training module comprises of

• Training curriculum/course syllabus
• Guidelines for trainers/facilitators
• Trainer Power Point Presentation (based on the module)
• One-page flyer
• A set of pre- and post-test

Secondly, to train the trainers of Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) on how to deliver the training and how to use the training pedagogy.

Target audience:  

       The training manual will support the following set of actors:

• Prospective and returnee migrant workers and their families;
• Trainers at Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment;
• Civil Society Organizations and IOs working for the promotion of rights and contracts for women migrant workers.

Expected Results:

• Training curriculum on STOE that incorporate women’s rights/labor rights and sexual and gender based violence issues faced by women migrant workers for Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE);
• Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) has capacity to conduct training on STOE that incorporate women’s rights and labour rights to prospective and returnee women migrant workers;
• Women migrant workers are aware of how to seek assistance in cases of contract violations.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the National Migration officer, Sri Lanka and the overall guidance of the Regional Migration Manager the consultant will develop:

• A training module on STOEs in a format that is understandable to prospective and returnee women migrant workers (Conduct two days of field visit to understand the dynamics of contracts offered for women migrant workers);
• Training curriculum/course syllabus on Standard Terms of Employment that incorporate women’s rights/labor rights and a section session sexual and gender based violence;
• A set of guidelines for trainers/facilitators – to ensure the quality of training, so that the trainer has an understanding of the sequence, objective(s) of each session, what to deliver in each session, what exercises/cases/games to be conducted;
• A Power Point Presentation for the trainers based on the module;
• A one page flyer based on the terms of employment to capture the basic components of a contract;
• The assignment also includes conducting a pre-test before the finalization of the training module and a post-test evaluation to receive feedback from the trainers to approve the document to be used in future trainings.

Deliverables:

• Deliverable 1: First draft of content and initial designs of the 4 knowledge products: training module, guidelines to the trainer, one page flyer and the presentation template - 9 September 2017;
• Deliverable 2: Second draft with comments incorporated from UN Women in the 4 knowledge products: training module, guidelines to the trainer, one page flyer and the presentation template - 11 September 2017;
• Deliverable 3. Third draft Incorporate comments from key stakeholders gathered during reviews and the validation workshop respectively - 13 September 2017;
• Deliverable 4: Fourth draft of the knowledge products for the test training - 14 September 2017;
• Deliverable 6: Fifth draft after incorporating feedback from the test training - 18 September 2017;
• Deliverable 7: Post-test evaluation report and final submission of the four knowledge products - First week of November 2017 (dedicate 2 days of the entire assignment).

Timeline for the assignment

• Consult with UN Women Sri Lanka on the outline of the module - 1 September 2017
• Conduct field and desk research on different types of contracts offered to women migrant workers and vulnerabilities caused by lack of specific terms outlined in the contracts to gain a solid understanding on how this could be avoided through the implementation of STOEs - 2-3 September 2017
• Submit first draft of content and initial designs of the 4 knowledge products: training module, guidelines to the trainer, one page flyer and the presentation template - 9 September 2017
• Incorporate comments from UN Women - 11 September 2017
• Incorporate comments from key stakeholders gathered during reviews and the validation workshop respectively - 13 September 2017
• Submitting the second draft/ Finalize the module and the flyer for the test training - 14 September 2017
• Conduct a test training - 16 September 2017
• Submission of the finalized module - 18 September 2017
• Provide edits for the translated documents - 2 days of work between 25th September - First week of November
• Conduct the training for two days - First week of November (2 days)
• Conduct a post-test evaluation and submit a post-test evaluation report and make necessary changes to the training module - First week of November 2017 (dedicate 2 days of the entire assignment)

Institutional Arrangements:

The consultant will report to the National Migration officer, Sri Lanka and the Regional Migration Manager, Thailand.

Competencies

Core Values / Guiding Principles:

Integrity:

• Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.

Professionalism:

• Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.

Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity:

• Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

Ethics and Values:

• Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity.

Organizational Awareness:

• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.

Work in teams:

• Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

Communicating and Information Sharing:

• Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.

Self-management and Emotional Intelligence:

• Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others.

Conflict Management:

• Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.

Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

• Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge.

Functional Competencies:

• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills;
• Focuses on impact and result for the partners and responds positively to feedback.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s Degree in Law, Human Rights/Women’s Rights, Labor Rights/Labor Law and other related fields.

Experience:

• Minimum five years of proven experience in developing content and design of knowledge products/ information, education and communication;
• Substantial Knowledge of or background on gender and labor migration, women’s rights/labor rights, labor laws and contracts, sexual and gender based violence;
• Understanding on labor migration and development process in Sri Lanka;
• Proved experience in developing knowledge products for trainings/developing understandable training materials, handouts and presentations.

Language:

• Strong command of English, Sinhala both written and oral and ideally Tamil.
• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use office technology equipment, ability to use Internet and email.
• Ability to use lay out software (e.g. Illustrator, Photoshop, in design, PageMaker, etc.)

Schedule of payment:

Instalments                      

Final Instalment 100% - Upon submission and approval from UN Women of the four knowledge products and the post-test evaluation report.

Application Process:

Interested applicants should apply to this announcement through UNDP jobs site: jobs.undp.org

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document:

• All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs;

• Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment, please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment;
• Applications received after the close date will not be accepted;
• Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
• Please include a writing sample of ten pages or less of a relevant brief/report or a training tool in written.  

Payment will be on a lump sum basis and the selected candidate will be expected to start as soon as the contract is signed. Please note that we cannot consider applications without a completed P11.

Evaluation and Selection Criteria

Criteria for shortlisting of CVs will be based on the following assessment:

• Required Degree and Qualification (5 points);
• Demonstrable experience relevant to the assignment (10 points);
• Working knowledge and experience of working on Gender & labour Migration (5 points).

The evaluation process for selection of the candidate will be based on the following assessment:

• Interview
• Writing Sample

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment.